The present invention relates to an ice and snow melting structure which prevents accidents involving vehicles and aircraft traveling on roads or runways due to slipping caused by snow by removing said snow as a result of embedding a surface heating element beneath the surface of the ground to melt said snow.
Although there are numerous problems due to freezing and accumulation of snow on road surfaces in areas having cold climates, an example of one of those problems is the removal of snow from railroad crossings. The number of railroad crossings may be unexpectedly high, numbering as many as 60 within a single territorial jurisdiction in cities. Although more than 100 snow removal personnel are deployed for the removal of snow from these railroad crossings each time there is a significant snowfall, difficulties have recently been encountered in assembling enough personnel to perform this work.
At present, railroad crossings equipped with ice and snow melting equipment using heating systems powered by electric power have not come into common use. The reason for this is primarily based on apprehensions concerning problems with electrical connection systems caused by vibrations and so on when a train passes over the crossing, as well as the detrimental effects on the heating unit due to load pressure at the time heavily loaded freight cars or roadway vehicles pass over the crossing.
In addition, the use of these types of heating systems has also not proliferated in the case of removal of snow from runways at airports and removal of snow from ordinary roads due to problems similar to those described above being encountered.
Furthermore, although the shortcoming in terms of the strength of surface heating elements of the prior art was in the joint between the surface portion and the electrodes, Yoshinori Nagai, one of the inventors of the present invention, succeeded in improving on this shortcoming and applied for patent of such in the form of UM Application 1-146306 (Laid open No. 3-84584) dated Dec. 29, 1989.